Fourth guilty plea linked to deadly Manhattan arson

The getaway driver in an armed robbery that kicked off the chain of events that ultimately led to the arson-related death of a Kansas State University researcher has become the fourth person to plead guilty to federal charges in the case.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Thursday that Dennis James Denzien, 20, of Manhattan, pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting a robbery.

In his plea, Denzien admitted that on Feb. 6, 2013, he drove Frank Joseph Hanson to Dara’s Fast Lane at 1816 Claflin Road in Manhattan. Hanson robbed the store with a pistol — a crime to which he has pleaded guilty — and Denzien drove him away from the scene.

Later that day, Riley County Police Department officers served two search warrants at a residence Denzien shared with Patrick Martin Scahill. Grissom said officers recovered a mask, gloves, a backpack and a firearm used in the convenience store robbery.

But before officers could obtain the search warrants, Hanson, Scahill, Virginia Amanda Griese and Gavin Hairgrove met and discussed a way to distract police from finding what they knew to be incriminating evidence at the residence.

Griese drove Scahill to the Lee Crest Apartments, 820 Sunset in Manhattan, where Scahill used gasonline to set a fire in a hallway of an apartment building across the street from the residence to be searched. The resulting fire killed Vasanta Pallem, a post graduate researcher at KSU, who was overcome by smoke and was unable to flee the building, as other residents were able to do.

Denzien is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 5. He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

Scahill and Griese both pleaded guilty to arson resulting in death and are awaiting sentencing. Hanson will be sentenced for the robbery July 8. Hairgrove is set for a change of plea hearing June 10.